Second Chance
by zero290
Summary: Helga finds herself alive after the end of Atlantis the Lost Empire. Helga's POV along with an OC. This story is also F/F.
1. Chapter 1

I woke up suddenly and felt pain all over. My memory was blurry and I looked around the room. I felt disorientated and I hated it. Slowly little snapshots of the previous day... or week... or shit, I couldn't recall how long I'd actually been out. I remember falling, I remember the crunching sound of the impact as my body hit the ground, I remember using everything I had left aiming at that doubling crossing bastard and the satisfaction that I'd hit my target. I don't remember anything after that. I must still be alive or I wouldn't be in this much pain. Slowly I wiggled my fingers, then my toes, arms, then legs... I stopped. I think my legs were broken... both of them. I couldn't figure out anything else but at least nothing on my body felt numb and I could move.

The room around me was dark and it was taking awhile for my eyes to adjust. I was laying on a straw bed covered with animal skins. The straw was poking up between the skins adding to my discomfort but it looked like someone was trying to make me comfortable. It seems like I didn't make it out of Atlantis, Sweet would have had me bundled in a sleeping bag burrito hooked up to a whole bunch of his medical contraptions. Him and the others probably didn't want anything to do with me now.

My eyes had finally adjusted and I could make out animal skulls and bones hanging on the walls. The empty eyes of the skulls stared blankly at me, their exposed teeth sneered in my direction as if mocking me. You should have been dead like us. The sight was terrifying but for some reason I didn't care. Unlike my body I myself felt numb. I didn't care what happened next. I closed my eyes and fell back asleep.

I was awoken to the sound of movement, I opened my eyes and found myself staring at a masked figure in the entrance of the hut. It was dark but I could make out the sinister features of the paintwork. It startled me slightly and I instinctively reached for my pillow where I normally kept a pistol when I slept. There was no pillow and there was no pistol. The figure froze and watched me motionlessly. After I realized my mistake I froze too. We both stayed there watching each other. The figure didn't seem to be threatened because it was in a relaxed stance. The mask covered half it's body and it seemed more curious about what I was going to do next. I felt vulnerable and I didn't like it. I attempted to shit up, I managed but the effort made my head swim and everything got blurry again. A woman was now sitting next to me. I didn't see her take off the mask or walk across the hut but she was there.

"Don't move so fast." She was holding up a wooden bowl to my lips. I looked at her questionably. "If I wanted to kill you you would already be dead right now." She pressed the bowl almost forcefully to my face. I drank the awful smelling concoction, she looked satisfied and placed the bowl down.

She looked like Kida but slightly older and knowing Atlantians that could have been hundreds of years older. Her hands and lower arms where heavily tattooed and she was sitting there with a smug smile on her face. "Your alive." She looked at me stating the obvious but that statement was now stuck in my head. "Im alive." I repeated her and then realized how amazing that was.


	2. Chapter 2

We were in the poorly built hut starring at each other in silence for awhile before I blurted the question that was on the forefront of my mine. "Why...how...?"

"Why are you still alive? Well it's because I'm an amazing healer." She replied with that same smug look still plastered across her face. She seemed to be proud of herself for the fact that I was now awake and talking to her.

"But why?" I shook my head and decided to drop it for now and she didn't answer me right away anyway. I looked at her and the crystal around her neck remembering Kida. Other memories started filtering back in and so did the beginning of guilt.

"I'm a healer thats what I do regardless of what you've done. Plus if you didn't make it I'd have a huge supply of various things." She looked around the small poorly built hut with all of it's strange containers and bones. I could guess what she was hinting at.

I attempted to get up and she tried to help me but I pushed her off. She shrugged as if saying, well I tried to help you and just settled for watching me struggle. I couldn't stand so I managed to just prop myself up against the wall. "Helga." I said as I gritted my teeth from the exertion and extended my hand out towards her trying to make this exchange less awkward.

She didn't know what to do at first but then gripped my hand."Sey." She smiled at me and suddenly got up. I watched her leave the hut and listened to her shuffle around outside. She came back with a bag and tossed it at my feet. "This looks like it belongs to you."

I recognized the bag and shuffled through it. My Mauser c96 was at the top along with various tank tops, black turtle necks, lipstick, and pants. I grabbed my pistol and looked at it. She was watching me intently.

"It's not a very smart idea to just give someone who tried to destroy your way of life a gun." I picked up my pistol and pointed it at her casually, well as casually as you could point a gun at someone. I wanted to see her reaction but she didn't flinch. Her demeanor actually didn't change at all.

"Without me you'd die and I've seen you fighting out there. You don't seem like a person who's willing to die just yet." She took the pistol away from me without a fight. She seemed a bit too confident in herself but I wasn't feeling up for a fight because all I wanted to do was shake her up a bit. Unfortunately doing that didn't seem like it would be an easy task with her. Milo was easy and so were many others but Sey seemed too comfortable and slightly cocky to get to rattled at the moment.

Sey was now attempting to hold pistol the way I had done. She was starting to bother me for the fact that she was treating it like a toy. Closing one eye, she was aiming it around the hut but she never pointed it at me and that was a good thing. I had no idea if she even knew how to use it correctly.

"Put that dow-" I attempted to say but she fired a shot and shattered a skull in the distance. With a lot of effort I grabbed it away and put it back in the bag. I needed awhile to catch my breath while she just watched me again. I noticed that a blue crystal had fallen out of my tank top and was hanging around my neck. I reached down to yank it off me but Sey grabbed my hand.

"That's helping you stay alive." She looked very serious and didn't let go until I relaxed my hand. The pistol was now forgotten.

"Are you crazy?" I eased myself into a more comfortable position and fixed the loose strap of my tank top that had fallen down.

"Maybe." She replied and frowned at the damage she had done across the room and then back at me. Neatly she placed the pistol back in the bag.

Then she moved closer and we were now sitting side by side again. Leaning over without saying anything, she took one of my legs and inspected it before doing the same with the other. She didn't seem to have any regard for personal space or at least about asking first but I let her without complaint because after all I was alive wasn't I and apparently it was because of Sey.

"Broken." She indicated one of my legs and placed her hand near the break and did the same with the other one repeating the same thing. That much I had guessed on my own. "Sprained." She held my wrist in one of her hands before placing both hands on my stomach and moving them to my left side. She placed pressure on my side and repeated "Broken." as she ran her hands on two of my ribs. That was the reason why it was hurting so bad to take deep breaths. She then pointed at me and placed her finger in the center of my chest. "Internal bleeding... but I fixed that." Then her medical whatever it was seemed to be over and she distanced herself from me again and sat back. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Like I just fell off a hot air balloon and plummeted towards my death." I replied and she smirked.

"I mean what hurts?" She seemed to be listening intently now.

"Everything." I replied not know where to start. She shrugged and mumbled something about that last bowl of whatever it was not being strong enough. Sey then got up and brought me another one that was even more fowl smelling than the last. She placed it on my lips before I could raise my hands up to take it or respond verbally.

"Drink." It was more of a command but I took the bowl in both my hands and starred at her until she got the hint to let go. I then finished the drink off tipping the bowl back into my own mouth and handed her the empty one. She then got up and brought me another bowl full of some kind of shrimp like creature. She grabbed one of the small creatures and was ready to thrust it in my face when I quickly wrestled it out of her hand and took the bowl along with it before she could force that in my face too. She starred again until I took a bite and seemed satisfied with herself enough to go get her own bowl of strange shrimp like creatures.

We ate in silence and I was starting to feel a little better. My body didn't hurt as much and I was starting to get drowsy. She started looking in my bag and at this point I just didn't care. I figured she had done it before I had woken up and was doing this to make some kind of point or just really had no sense of privacy at all. She took out a tube of lipstick and looked at it. I watched her as she figured out how to open it and she looked at it questionably and then back at me. I extended my hand and opened my palm indicating that she should hand it to me and she did. I opened the tube and put on the lipstick, folded it back in it's tube, and handed it back to her.

"I thought that was going to explode." She laughed and opened the tube back up and smeared some of the red on her hand. It contrasted greatly with the blue of her tattoos. She placed the tube back in my bag and started shuffling through it again. She looked almost childlike at that moment. Sey then found two folded up pictures that I know I had placed on the bottom of my bag. There were two and she unfolded them, looked at them, and then looked again back at me. She didn't say anything this time and placed them back. I was glad because I didn't feel like saying anything. When she was done she placed everything neatly back in the bag and placed it by my makeshift bed. I could hardly keep my eyes open now as I watched her. I bet that some of that medicine had something in it to make me feel this drowsy but I also couldn't feel any pain anymore so I didn't care how tired it was making me feel.

The next day I woke up and the hut was bright... to bright. I squinted and slowly sat up. A few animal skins fell off my shoulder and the air was chilly so I picked them back up and draped them around me. I still hurt but it wasn't as bad as the other night. Slowly I looked around but I didn't see any other sign of movement. There was another makeshift bed across from mine but it was empty and the skins where neatly folded. I attempted to put my feet on solid ground, placed my pistol in my belt, and with much effort I was standing. Fuck it hurt like hell, I managed to take one step before falling over and caught myself on the wall. I cursed again and used the wall to help me over to the door. I managed to get out of the hut and then looked around. The hut was out in the middle of nowhere. Looking around I found no other signs of life but the remnants of a cooking fire in the front and one of those Atlantean flying fish machines. Sey also had put several spears with several animal skulls out front to presumably scare people away. I sat down outside and tried to clear my mind. Fuck I really screwed things up big time. I didn't want to think about what happened with Rourke so I didn't and instead decided to concentrate on my immediate problems. What was I going to do next? Obviously it was to heal before I could do anything but then what after that? What happened to Milo and the others? Who exactly was Sey and why was she helping me? Could I even trust her? I placed my hands on my head and laid down on the overgrown grass. Closing my eyes I tried to clear my mind because that's all I could do at the moment was to be patient.

It wasn't until the sun started to go down when Sey returned. I could see her off in the distance carrying a big net slung over her shoulder and the same big mask she was wearing the first time I saw her. She didn't notice me for awhile but once she got closer she quickly ran over and dropped everything by the fire.

"How did you get out here?" she asked concerned.

"I walked." I shifted myself irritably while she inspected my legs.

"I'd rather you'd have crawled." She pulled up my pant leg and placed her hands on where I assumed the break was and closed her eyes. I was surprised that when she let go my leg felt better. I looked over at her questionably and she looked back slightly drained before doing the same thing with the other leg. I watched her in silence.

"Sey, are you alone here?" I asked when she finished. She got up and picked up the net of what looked like diner... unfortunately. I wasn't very fond of the Atlatian food groups. Those groups seemed to be fish, fish, fish and more fish. I wasn't a person who liked seafood on a regular basis but I guess it was better than beans, bacon, and lard all the time. Although I could go for that whiskey right about now.

"Besides me." Sey interrupted my thoughts. I watched her start the fire and start to gut a fish with a flint knife. She didn't answer directly at first. "Yes, and I'm fine with it as you can tell." She indicated the spears with the skulls as she continued to gut another fish. I didn't say anything else. She didn't seem like she was in a good mood compared to last night. I just watched her and thought that I probably wasn't going to get all my answers tonight.

I was wrong to think that she looked like Kida. Sey looked nothing like Kida besides the fact that she was Atlantean. She shared the same white hair, dark skin, and blue eyes that all Atlantean's shared but her eyes where a lighter shade and her skin was darker. She could have the same naivety sometimes but she also had a more knowing gaze that could be almost scary. Her hair was also different and pushed back from her face with a slight wave and her facial features where different... almost sharper. She also wore animal skins compared to what I'd seen in Atlantis, their wardrobe was more colorful but Sey was more muted. It was probably because she made her own clothes with whatever she had. Sey also wore bones as jewelry and had them in her ears and around her neck along with that blue crystal that all Atlanteans wore. Then her hands were completely covered in tattoos from the tip of her fingers to her elbows.

"Something on my face?" She looked up from her work and had placed the fish on two sticks over the fire. I shook my head and she went back to tending to our diner. We ate in silence and I could tell something was wrong. We were halfway through when I heard rustling out in the distance. I looked up and placed my had over my pistol but Sey didn't move at all. A group of Atlantean's walked out of the thick foliage and into the empty area surrounding the hut. Sey stood up and waited as they walked closer. She looked tense and turned around towards me. She clutched her crystal and pointed towards me before mouthing "Hide it." The other Atlanteans were still to far away to have noticed our exchange and I sat up as high as I could and tucked the crystal away in my shirt. I folded my legs and acted as if nothing was wrong.

They were all wearing masks and brightly covered garb and the leader stopped in front of Sey. He took off his mask and looked over at me holding eye contact with a scowl. He was trying to intimidate me but I didn't look away and scowled right back. We were interrupted by Sey. I watched as the two had a conversation in Atlantian. Both of them stayed tense and the other Atlantean's stayed back with their spears drawn. In my mind I was thinking of the best way to get away but if anything happened it seemed hopeless. I was in no condition to fight my way out.

Sey and the man both stopped talking and looked over towards me. The man walked over and pointed his spear towards me. I quickly drew my pistol and looked over at Sey. She didn't budge as the others started to walk past her as well.

"Stand back." I ordered but they just continued to come forward. I knew running wasn't an option but maybe I could scare them away. I aimed at the leaders shoulder and pulled the trigger. Click. Nothing happened, I tried again and this time it was jammed. I looked down at my pistol and then back up at the advancing group. I knew Sey had something to do with this and I looked back towards her. I could just see her eyes over the shoulder of another Atlantean. I guess part of my earlier question was answered, I couldn't trust her and I couldn't trust anyone for that matter. She didn't say it but I could just hear the words "Nothing personal" echoing through my mind.


	3. Chapter 3

It was dark out and I could hear the soft breathing of several of Atlantean's in the distance. A long figure watched over the camp as everyone slept. I still wasn't exactly sure what was going on but I could guess. The words "traitor" and "outsider" along with some others I didn't understand were thrown at me. I knew they didn't like me that's for sure, I could see the hate in their eyes. In a way I didn't blame them but I could tell for my own survival I couldn't stay for much longer. I was still in bad shape. Getting out of this was going to be difficult. I stayed awake trying to piece together a plan but nothing seemed to come to mind.

I saw Sey in the corner of my eye. I watched subconsciously as she slept, the glint of her bone tooth jewelry let me know that that was indeed her in the darkness. She hadn't spoken to me since we joined this group. I was angry at her but what else did I expect? To wake up after what had happened to a party? A we forgive you for trying to take away our way of life so here's some weird shrimp and a hug. No, I deserved this. I didn't go with my gut feeling. Living breathing people were here not some dusty old skulls and ruins. I followed orders because I'm a soldier and thats that. Also the money. I'm not going to lie but it sounded good at the time. So here I am but at least I'm not dead...yet.

Another Atlantean went to relieve the one on the hillside from his watch over the camp. I turned over on my back and watched as he patted the other man on the back and took his place. I remembered this new one from earlier. I made a note in my mind that I liked him least from all the others. I don't know why, it was another gut feeling.

It had been less than an hour since the last watch was changed and I figured my only option was to try to sneak out of here before daylight came. It wasn't a great plan but it was something. It looked like the watch had left to go check on something down in the shadows when I started to move the best I could. Suddenly I heard some rustling from ahead and a man emerged. It was the Atlantean keeping watch.

"Come with me." The man whispered in a gruff voice. He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me until we reached a clearing and I was thrown in the center. We were away from the campfire so I could only make out shapes. Several other figures were there too but I could tell it wasn't the full group of Atlantean's. They were all standing above me and looked sinister in the limited moonlight. They seemed to be arguing. Suddenly I heard another thud and a grunt. I looked over at the figure and recognized the outline of Sey.

"Whats going on?" She said in a language that I understood. She was trying to get them to all say something so I understood them. I'm not sure why but she did and I was glad for it.

"Shut-up witch." A whisper in the distance responded.

"We had an agreement." Sey responded louder. A figure emerged and I recognized this one as the one standing watch who grabbed me.

"You wanted us to take you back to Atlantis so she can stand a fair trail? For your own gain no doubt. I don't care why they won't let you back in and we are not escorting you back to Atlantis. This is our trial and I'd say the penalty is death." The man whispered loudly but only a few of us could hear. Several of the Atlantean's in earshot raised their fists in agreement and soon the others followed. I was guessing that this mindset wasn't shared with the whole group that brought us in. Only a few Atlantean's where in the clearing with us and they were making an extra effort to stay as silent as possible.

The man who was keeping watch and who was apparently the leader of this small group unsheathed a blade. He started inching closer to me and I could tell he was intent on killing me. He then lunged at me with the blade then to my surprise Sey jumped between us and parried the attack but he came around again. The rest of it happened in a blur. This time Sey was close enough that I quickly grabbed ahold of her neckless and snapped it off her neck pushing her to the side. I gripped the largest bone tooth piece in my palm and waited for the next lunge from the man. He did exactly that and we both toppled over as I expertly plunged my makeshift weapon into his chest. I felt his body go limp and I pushed him off to the side before sitting back up to how I was when the attack just started. Lucky for me he was a sloppy fighter because I managed to best him without standing up.

The others watching in the group became rowdy and some even started shouting. Suddenly the whole area started to light up with bluish glows and torches. The rest of the camp was awake and the main leader stepped into the clearing. Shouting in Atlantean started to fill the night air and chaos followed. Fighting broke out and just as quickly Sey appeared and lifted me up so I could walk beside her with her assistance.

"You still have my crystal, right?" She said to me and I showed her the palm of my hand with the little blue stone. She nodded and we quickly slipped out of the area. Luckily for us everyone was too busy to notice we were gone just yet.

We didn't say anything for a long time. We just traveled as fast as my legs allowed and that wasn't fast but we still had the advantage of being in the cover of night. Finally we made it to some tall grass and Sey just dropped me and crashed beside me after. She did what she had done before and started prying my hand open to retrieve her crystal and then started prodding me uncomfortably without saying a word. I was fed up with her and I gripped the bone tooth tightly in my palm. It was still warm, slippery, and drenched with blood but I didn't want to throw it away. It was still the only weapon that I had. I quickly pulled her by the forearm, rolled over on top of her and pinned her.

"I really don't trust you." I pushed the point of the tooth to her neck and drew some blood.

"I understand." She flinched and attempted to scoot her body away from me but I pressed harder on her neck. She quickly exhaled and froze, I could feel that she was still tense under me and not as comfortable as the time I pointed my pistol at her. I had a feeling that my display earlier changed her mind. "What are you going to do now?" She met my gaze and we stayed that way for awhile.

"Fuck." I exhaled. I had to many conflicting emotions. I had put my entire life in the trust of one man... Rourke, who was supposed to be my mentor. He betrayed my trust after years in one instance and over money for that matter. Shortly after I did it again. I didn't question Sey's motives enough, I was in bad shape so I just let it go. She has some type of agenda and as long as she has whatever it is she's trying to gain I couldn't trust her. "From now on you'll do whatever it is I say, got it?"

"Got it." She replied back quickly and I eased the point of the makeshift weapon off of her neck. Sey looked at me blankly as I eased myself to her side and laid down. "You're in pain." She observed.

"I'll live." I replied and we both stayed quite for awhile. The statement was true. It was difficult for me to stay still because I was uncomfortable but I was also very tired. I found starting to slip into sleep despite everything. We had gotten far and we would be difficult to find for the moment but I wasn't entirely 100 percent positive on that.

"Can I help you?" She was watching me now sitting up.

"Whats in it for you?" I replied bluntly trying to get comfortable on the cold hard ground.

"A way back into Atlantis." She replied without missing a beat.

"At least you're honest now. I have no intention of getting ripped to shreds by angry locals so you can find another way." My tone was mixture of irritation and anger.

"How about you just focus on getting better." She seemed to have ignored my last reply.

"Just don't go trying to find people who are trying to kill me before then. That's a order." I was really getting tired now and loosing the ability and energy to go into a argument.

"I won't turn you in to dangerous people who want to kill you. It wasn't a great experience for me either. They tried to kill me too." I couldn't see her face in the dark but she sounded genuine.

"Good." I replied and closed my eyes. "So lets get this clear and we can try this again. No turning me over as a prisoner, don't touch me without asking even if it has something to do with my health, and don't go through my things without asking. Then I think I'll let you stick around, Sound good?" I closed my eyes.

"No." She replied and I opened my eyes and hesitated for a moment. My first instinct was to yell for her to drop and give me 20 but she wasn't a cadet. My second response was to use force but she was out of reach along with me being physically and emotionally drained at the moment so I just gaped at her dark figure. I had used all my energy earlier to pin her.

"I just wanted to see what you would do. I got it." She waited a few more seconds to reply. It didn't seem as if she felt threatened anymore and she kind of sounded amused.

"I hope you got it. I don't put up with bullshit." I said in the most authoritative voice I could muster at the moment.

"I can tell." She shot back. "Can I help you now?" She changed the subject back to the earlier question.

"...Yes you can. Don't make me regret this again." I sighed and relaxed again.

"I won't." She replied she motioned at my legs for permission to check them and I let her. "Promise I won't." She repeated her earlier response and it made me feel slightly better.


End file.
